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A Partial List of Silly Things Noted

Have you ever gone on a God Hunt? A God Hunt begins when you teach yourself to look for God’s hand at work in the every day occurrences of your life. Here’s one of my personal God Hunt Sightings:

“My mouth shall recount your mighty acts and saving deeds all day long; though I cannot know the number of them.” —Psalm 71:15.

It is my personal theory that when we dwell in heaven, one of the delightful activities that will come our way will be to look back at our days on Earth and see all the uncounted, unsuspected ways God intervened on our behalf, performing mighty acts and saving deeds all our lives long—about which we were totally unaware.

People often ask me, “But how do I know if it’s God or not?”

My response invariably is, “Oh, don’t worry about it. You’ve probably overlooked His good favors for most of your living—none of us have any idea how much He has done for us—that if you give Him credit for some good thing for which He is not responsible, you still will be woefully behind in your gratitude and praise-giving.”

Here is a silly list from yesterday—my frail and feeble attempt to pay attention to some of the things God has done for me and to recount them for myself and for others.

I wrote the monthly donor letter for Mainstay Ministries in four hours. The idea for a theme, the quotes I needed, the Scripture AND the photos were all at hand. I didn’t have to think hard, research widely, hunt and find. Everything I needed was at hand.

Photos from the Africa trip that I took in October came to me on a CD in time to put them in blogs, the donor letter, on the Global Bag Project website, and on Facebook pages. A perfect example of divine brinkmanship!

The garbage service picked up the single bed-frame AND THE OLD MATTRESS we needed to discard in order to start working on the décor for the spare room in the basement.

I found my car keys—a regular and unending displacement in my life. At least when I can’t find the keys, at last I’ve learned to pray first and hunt last.

David discovered that because I was overseas, I hadn’t recorded my automated Social Security bank deposit for the month of September. I have more money in my checking account than I thought!

With a combination of sleeping pills, ear plugs, winter blankets, and a closed bedroom door (and with my husband finally realizing—after 50 years of marriage—that anything that wakes me up gets me up), I am getting eight to ten hours of sleep per night. For decades, I’ve functioned on four to six hours of sleep, seven on rare occasions. This is a true accomplishment. I’m hoping my brain will get into the sleep habit, and I will be able to discard the pills.

I found the new humidifier I forgot I’d purchased last winter. It holds enough water that I don’t have to refill it every other day. I threw away the old humidifier I had bought secondhand. This may not seem like God, but I had completely forgotten this purchase. It could have sat in the guest-room closet all winter, but I was getting the closet ready for the Wheaton College professor who will be living with us this season, and voila! there it was—new and clean and shining.

A retiree who was a high-school Home Economics teacher (Domestic Arts, I believe it is these days) volunteers in our office every Thursday. Because of her professional background, she is a whiz with the copier, the computer, with details and with just pitching in. She test-washed the new wraparound East Africa kanga-cloth skirt and found it washed and hung dry wonderfully. She suggested the design of its own traveling bag—we are the Global Bag Project, after all. And yesterday, she came home with me, took away the fabric I have had for a year to make a drape for the rod in my writing study, measured the half-curtain in the guest room and took the fabric to make a ruffle so that it reaches the floor (I’ve had that fabric for at least ten years), and also took the vintage tea-towel fabric to make into tea towels (not to mention the new summer skirt that needed repair at the waistline). I feel like God has just provided me with a personal assistant.

How can I prove that any of these things were part of God’s “mighty acts and saving deeds”? I can’t. I just assume these are a partial list of the incidental incidents out of my life that smooth the going for me. But then, who can prove that they aren’t? Can you?

I spy God!

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Award-winning author Karen Mains has long had an interest in spiritual formation and the obedient Christian walk. She has written about the God Hunt in her book by the same name, The God Hunt: The Delightful Chase and the Wonder of Being Found. A hardback copy can be ordered from Mainstay Ministries for $10.00 plus $4.95 shipping and handling. Contact Karen at info@mainstayministries.org and she will be happy to autograph a copy for you.

Karen continues to write content for her Christian blog, “Thoughts-by-Karen-Mains.” In so doing, she desires to touch the lives of Christian women and men and help them find ways to walk closer with the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, through silent retreats, spiritual teaching, women’s retreats, Christian vacation opportunities, and other ministry activities, Karen helps each Christian woman and man receive vital spiritual food.

Through her Hungry Souls ministry, Karen serves as a spiritual coach to many Christian women and men, and teaches a mentor-writing class. And, through the Global Bag Project, she is working to develop a network of African women who sew exquisite cloth reusable shopping bags, Africa bags. This micro-finance women opportunity helps provide a much-needed sustainable income for struggling African families. For more information on this critically important project, please click here.

For decades, Karen and her husband, David, have served God through religious communications—radio, television, and print publication. They are the co-authors of the Kingdom Tales Trilogy: Tales of the Kingdom, Tales of the Resistance, and Tales of the Restoration. To find many valuable resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries main website, please click here.

Likewise, pastors will find special resources to help them prepare effective, life-transforming Sunday sermons by visiting David Mains’ website by clicking here.